New Apple TV Plays iPhone 4 HD Video! Old One Doesn't Play 720p/30.

[newagemac]

Man I am excited about the new Apple TV. My wife and I just had our first son and I picked up the new iPhone 4 a few days before the birth to capture the moments. The new iPhone takes beautiful HD video and pictures. I was completely amazed that technology has progressed so much for a device so small. The really great thing about it was the ease of use/portability. Every time there was a special moment I just quickly whipped it out of my pocket and captured it and could switch from taking video to pictures with just a tap. It worked out very well.

Now the reason I'm so excited about the new Apple TV is because it will play 720p/30 video straight off the iPhone at its highest quality with no conversion or hacks necessary. In fact, once iOS 4.2 is out, I won't even have to sync my iPhone to the Mac to view it on the big screen tv. I can just stream the HD video and pictures of the new baby directly from my iPhone using Airplay!

This November, my whole immediate family and their families are meeting up for Thanksgiving and I'll be able to take my little ATV with me and show it all directly from my iPhone on my parent's HDTV using Airplay. Plus we can watch moments that I capture while we're there the same way. That is awesome!

I had been planning on getting the old Apple TV for a while but the fact that it couldn't handle HD video I captured from an iPhone 4 held me back from purchasing not only the ATV but the iPhone 4 as well. The added horsepower and functionality of the new ATV sealed the deal. This kind of hardware/software integration is what I like most about Apple.

I really am looking forward to this!

 

[dmm219]

I'm going to go on a branch here and postulate that if home movies and pictures (pictures of which, are EASIER to use on the OLD ATV...can be stored, don't need another expensive iOS device)...it has already failed...

...until people can easily cut the cable cord with one of these...ATV will continue to fail...the volume of tv rentals on the new ATV is abysmal.

I'll be waiting until there is actually a reason to pick one up...as of right now, the old ATV is far superior, functionality wise, than the new one.

 

[fastgraham]

TV on atv

TED -> Utorrent -> Isquint -> iTunes -> atv

All the TV you could want.

 

[tourphoto123]

agreed

I am very excited about the new appletv because of the hardware upgrade. All of this crap about not having a hardrive built in is just pointless. Your main cpu is your server and it is connected by all your apple and non apple devices in your home. My issue with the old tv is it doesn't play HD 720P videos well. The new one I am sure will fix the issue since I personally am straying away from stardard dvd quality and converting HD video into itunes. Watching movies like avatar on my plasma, ipad (waiting for next generation) iphone and the imac is a pretty sweet deal!! Does everyone think this new appletv will fix the 720p playback issues?

Another thing I find funny is that the true geeks out there dont look at the bigger picture. Most people just want the thing to work and thats what apple is known for. I switched from Windows to Mac back in 2002 and have looked back. The appletv is going to do the same thing to the competion once the app store is ib place. It is called an ecosystem which no one currently including google and amazon has structured for many different devices.

When is the Appletv going to hit the store by the way?

 

[mchalebk]

All of this crap about not having a hardrive built in is just pointless.

It's not "crap" and it's not "pointless". It may not impact the way you want to use the device, but it sure impacts a number of us. The new AppleTV design has made me consider replacing my AppleTV with some other manufacturer's solution. I'm not there yet, but I have begun researching.

In reality, how difficult would it be for Apple to enable the USB port to allow connection of a hard drive? There's no reason this hardware can't support the people who want local storage as well as those that don't.

 

[tourphoto123]

everything is going hub based

This is an ecosytem. You have a main hub. Your ipad, iphone, appletv...etc sync. The appletv was never meant to be a mobile device. Why do you need hard drive space on the device. This would jack up the cost of the device for everyone. I am sure tehre will be a ahck to make the usb work and u can connect something to it but again why the need for storage. Mine has only pics on it right now. When you think about the future and airplay, you will be looking at the pics on an iphone or ipad and then clicking airplay to your appletv if needed.

My brother was trying to tell me the new popcorn device is the best thing out there. He's an IT techie and I am the guy who managed a large electronics chain for 5 years. He tried to convince me that the popcorn machine played all formats blah blah blah. I said thats great but I how do I stay organized? All the power in the world and options are not neccesary if it suits your needs and I promise you not having a hard drive will suit most needs for the majority.

Call me an apple lover but no, the hardrive wont be missed by me and most others since its a link to your main cpu in your home. If I go over to my parents and want to show off some pics from a trip, play a video tec...i can stream it from my iphone/ipad to their appletv and not detach the appletv and bring it everywhere I go. Imagine that!!!

 

[slu]

I agree. To me this is the main reason to upgrade to the new Apple TV. I was not happy the first time I used my iphone 4 to shoot video and had to convert it to watch it on my AppleTV.

Same issue with my flip cam. To me, the ability to play native 720p/30 is worth the price of the upgrade alone.

 

[mchalebk]

This is an ecosytem. You have a main hub. Your ipad, iphone, appletv...etc sync. The appletv was never meant to be a mobile device. Why do you need hard drive space on the device. This would jack up the cost of the device for everyone. I am sure tehre will be a ahck to make the usb work and u can connect something to it but again why the need for storage. Mine has only pics on it right now. When you think about the future and airplay, you will be looking at the pics on an iphone or ipad and then clicking airplay to your appletv if needed.

My brother was trying to tell me the new popcorn device is the best thing out there. He's an IT techie and I am the guy who managed a large electronics chain for 5 years. He tried to convince me that the popcorn machine played all formats blah blah blah. I said thats great but I how do I stay organized? All the power in the world and options are not neccesary if it suits your needs and I promise you not having a hard drive will suit most needs for the majority.

Call me an apple lover but no, the hardrive wont be missed by me and most others since its a link to your main cpu in your home. If I go over to my parents and want to show off some pics from a trip, play a video tec...i can stream it from my iphone/ipad to their appletv and not detach the appletv and bring it everywhere I go. Imagine that!!!

Why do you think you know better than I do how I should use a device? I don’t have a problem with saying “I don’t want to pay for a hard drive on the AppleTV because I don’t need one”. However, to say it’s “crap” and “pointless” is insulting to those of us who don’t want to use it like you do. I also noticed that you conveniently ignored my comment about how hard could it be for Apple to enable the USB drive to allow connection of a hard drive. You mentioned it would undoubtedly be hacked, but that’s not a viable solution for most people. And then you say you don’t want to pay for a hard drive. Fine. But why are you against having Apple enable the USB port for external storage? That wouldn’t cost you anything extra and would make a whole lot of other people happy.

I don’t own an iPad or on iPhone. I have an old (pre-Classic) iPod, which I never use at home. I don’t have any devices besides my computers that can stream anything to my AppleTV. My AppleTV is my music server. I also sync all our home videos to the device, plus keep all our photos on it. Right now, my wife can use our Harmony remote to turn on our home theater and can listen to music or watch her horse show videos as easily as she can watch TV. I do not want to have to leave my MacPro on all the time so we can stream this stuff. Furthermore, if my wife had to walk through the house to wake my computer up, she wouldn’t bother at all. (And don’t tell me to use Wake on LAN, because that pretty much resulted in my computer being awake all the time.)

The hard drive is essential to make the AppleTV do what I (and many others) want. Just because you don’t feel that way doesn’t mean you have the right answer. Just because you can’t comprehend why we want local storage doesn’t mean it doesn’t make sense. Please stop trying to talk for the whole world; your opinion doesn’t represent an awful lot of us.

 

[tripjammer]

Why do you think you know better than I do how I should use a device? I don’t have a problem with saying “I don’t want to pay for a hard drive on the AppleTV because I don’t need one”. However, to say it’s “crap” and “pointless” is insulting to those of us who don’t want to use it like you do. I also noticed that you conveniently ignored my comment about how hard could it be for Apple to enable the USB drive to allow connection of a hard drive. You mentioned it would undoubtedly be hacked, but that’s not a viable solution for most people. And then you say you don’t want to pay for a hard drive. Fine. But why are you against having Apple enable the USB port for external storage? That wouldn’t cost you anything extra and would make a whole lot of other people happy.

I don’t own an iPad or on iPhone. I have an old (pre-Classic) iPod, which I never use at home. I don’t have any devices besides my computers that can stream anything to my AppleTV. My AppleTV is my music server. I also sync all our home videos to the device, plus keep all our photos on it. Right now, my wife can use our Harmony remote to turn on our home theater and can listen to music or watch her horse show videos as easily as she can watch TV. I do not want to have to leave my MacPro on all the time so we can stream this stuff. Furthermore, if my wife had to walk through the house to wake my computer up, she wouldn’t bother at all. (And don’t tell me to use Wake on LAN, because that pretty much resulted in my computer being awake all the time.)

The hard drive is essential to make the AppleTV do what I (and many others) want. Just because you don’t feel that way doesn’t mean you have the right answer. Just because you can’t comprehend why we want local storage doesn’t mean it doesn’t make sense. Please stop trying to talk for the whole world; your opinion doesn’t represent an awful lot of us.

The new AppleTV rules and will sell out. $99 is the price point on were everybody with an IPAD or Iphone or Itouch will buy one so that they can show their media on the TV with ease. You are in the minority. People don't need storage in the Apple TV. People want to pay $99 or less for the convenience. People said the same thing about the Ipad not having USB ports. Look at where the ipad is today? The best selling tablet out there. Everybody is trying to make tablets like the Ipad. Just like everybody is trying to make an Iphone killer.

 

[mchalebk]

The new AppleTV rules and will sell out. $99 is the price point on were everybody with an IPAD or Iphone or Itouch will buy one so that they can show their media on the TV with ease. You are in the minority. People don't need storage in the Apple TV. People want to pay $99 or less for the convenience. People said the same thing about the Ipad not having USB ports. Look at where the ipad is today? The best selling tablet out there. Everybody is trying to make tablets like the Ipad. Just like everybody is trying to make an Iphone killer.

My point is that the new AppleTV already has a USB port; it only needs to be enabled. Why are you guys against a no cost (to you) feature that a lot of us want?

The existing AppleTV is a great device (though it certainly has its share of quirks and limitations). The new AppleTV might also be a great device, but it unnecessarily throws out some capabilities that the original device had. No one is asking for every buyer to have a hard drive forced down their throats. Just allow us to hook up an HD to the USB port and we can all be happy.

 

[tourphoto123]

again

Don't take what I say as a threat. Apple in a very intelligent company and people buy there products because of there ecosystem. The build their products to work with other products in as flawless a way as any other company out there and this is why they have won over so many. The appletv doesnt have the feature enabled due to the nature of the product. It is to sync with itunes. Whatever itunes has in it....If you are so concerned about connecting a hard drive to it, you are considered a techie to me atleast either need to wait for a hack or buy something like a wdtv.

The goal of there products is simplification and if they added usb to it, so many would just put stuff on a hd and never use itunes.

ITUNES and APPSTORE is what sells their products and all of their future products will be integrated in this IOS system.

Guarantee the Appletv will see like hot cakes because it does serve a huge purpose for the majority and yes Apple does not care about the minority in this case which I can't blame them. They are a business and run it very well.

 

[mchalebk]

The goal of there products is simplification and if they added usb to it, so many would just put stuff on a hd and never use itunes.

Depends how they implement it. If they implement it to allow syncing (like the present AppleTV), you still need to use iTunes. This would be a very simple feature for Apple to include that doesn't have to make the device any more complicated for those who want to keep it simple.

If you are so concerned about connecting a hard drive to it, you are considered a techie to me atleast either need to wait for a hack or buy something like a wdtv.

I am considering the WD TV. However, I have a fair amount of iTunes DRMed music, so it's not a simple matter for the WD TV to do what I need. Plus, I prefer the Apple interface.

 

[newagemac]

Your Mac is the Hub. Everything else is Spokes.

I think people just don't understand the direction Apple is going with this. Apple's vision is every person having their own computer which functions as a server and the main hub for your content. With that server you can perform all of the processor intensive stuff you need to do and connect as much hard drive space as you need to store all the files and content.

Applications on your computer do all the hard work while the Apple TV is a low cost device that concentrates on the UI and display of the content on the TV. Because of the low cost, you can have one of them at every TV in the house. Then with that setup, all of your content is always available at EVERY SCREEN in your house. Your main computer acts as the server storing all the content and feeding all the TV screens including the mobile ones.

The new Apple TV connects to all the servers in the house where all the content is stored as well as providing a direct connection to mobile iOS devices through Airplay.

When your Mac is not being used, it goes into sleep mode and uses very little power. If an Apple TV or mobile iOS device needs to stream content, the computer automatically wakes up and serves the content then goes back to sleep automatically when it is done.

So with my setup I have a mac mini at my desk that will serve content to my iphone, ipad, and 3 of the new Apple TVs for all 3 TVs in the house. My wife has her own Mac that will serve content to her own iOS devices and all 3 Apple TVs. We never turn our Macs off (we just let them sleep) so streaming works better than syncing since ALL of our content will always be available to ALL of our TV screens and mobile screens ALL the time.

With syncing, that wouldn't work because we would constantly have to keep track of what content was stored on what device and/or have to have large hard drives hooked up to every single one of them instead of having just one large hard drive connected to my mac storing, managing, processing, and serving all the content to every TV and mobile device in the house.

 

[Wicked1]

I'm going to go on a branch here and postulate that if home movies and pictures (pictures of which, are EASIER to use on the OLD ATV...can be stored, don't need another expensive iOS device)...it has already failed...

...until people can easily cut the cable cord with one of these...ATV will continue to fail...the volume of tv rentals on the new ATV is abysmal.

I'll be waiting until there is actually a reason to pick one up...as of right now, the old ATV is far superior, functionality wise, than the new one.

I was going to post something here about that until I read your thread and it basically asnwered my question if I should buy the old one or the new one.

Apple has them for $149 with a 160GB HD, and I do not mind having to use a small portable HDD for additional space. I wish the new ATV had an internal HDD it would have made this a no brainer, however if I take my the ATV camping, I will not be able to use it at all, which stinks.

 

[newagemac]

My point is that the new AppleTV already has a USB port; it only needs to be enabled. Why are you guys against a no cost (to you) feature that a lot of us want?

The existing AppleTV is a great device (though it certainly has its share of quirks and limitations). The new AppleTV might also be a great device, but it unnecessarily throws out some capabilities that the original device had. No one is asking for every buyer to have a hard drive forced down their throats. Just allow us to hook up an HD to the USB port and we can all be happy.

Because if Apple enables the USB port allowing you to add a hard drive, I think that's going to be a huge factor in preventing Apple from striking content deals in the future. So yes, we possibly all would be affected. Now sure other people might hack it like they did with the old one. But I don't think that would raise any eyebrows with the content providers. However, if it comes mass produced that way then that could be a problem.

There's a reason why the WDTV Live with its hard drive, 1080p, and MKV support has all of zero movies and tv shows available to rent or buy.

Apple is not saying it, but I bet a huge reason for not having the hard drive is to prevent any concerns that bought or rented digital files can be copied with the device. It was already more locked down than a regular computer which is why many HD movies and tv shows available on the old Apple TV were not available in the iTunes store for purchase by a computer. The content providers want to limit the possibility of their content being copied and they want the best quality to only be available on Blu Ray which might also be a reason why 1080p is not supported.

With that being said, I think it is a possibility that the USB port will be enabled in the future but not until either the content providers relax their concerns or Apple throws in the towel with them and completely gives up the idea of making the Apple TV a device where you can buy content and basically turn it into something like the WDTV Live.

I doubt the latter will happen though because Apple wants it to be a mass market consumer device not some geeky low volume device involving torrenting, ripping, and etc. Not that they would have much of a problem with us geeks using it for that but that's not the way they would design and market it because it won't go mainstream without the content providers.

 

[DJinTX]

Hey Tourphoto,

Lighten up a bit, man. I think most people can agree that the new ATV brings alot of functionality, and is an exciting product, but is far from perfect. Mchalebk is just outlining what he considers to be lacking. You seem to be misinterpreting what he is saying and equating it to him calling it an inferior piece of garbage, and we should all hate the evil Apple.

He isn't saying this, he just wishes it either had internal storage, or that the USB port was enabled. I agree and wish this were the case as well, because it would give it more functionality, but it is not reality at this point. Unlike him though, I still plan to get one regardless.

The interesting thing is that the new ATV hasn't even been released yet, so a year from now, or two, it may be a very different device. Who knows how Apple plans to evolve it. We may not even care about it having external storage by then.

 

[tourphoto123]

i get it

I know everyone wants everything but reality is for the product to evolve they need checks an balances. They could relase a bombshell and give you every feature up front which you has been in the works more then a hobby but they want to train the public how to use it. That's apples way and not microsoft. The ios has been in the works for longer then we can imagine but they can't release all the products at once because even I who you could call a techie would be overwelmed. First app added to appletv will be MLBTV just intime for baseball season....it will be as simple as using the apple remote or bringing it up on ur iphone or ipad. Imagine being able to watch multiple games at once on ur tv and ipad/iphone. The apps will be here very very soon but limited unlike the ipad/iphone to play nice with networks.

I am sorry to say but the usb port will never be used for anything unless hacked. I can say with 100 percent confidence this statement.

 

[newagemac]

Just tried out the iMovie app for iPhone and put together a nice little movie of the new baby's first days. Really cool app! Just had some company to come over to visit and see the baby and was thinking how nice it would have been to be able to show them the new movie of his first couple of days on the big screen. Come on Apple, ship already! lol.

 

[Slip Jigs]

I got the ATV about 8 months ago, and basically only use it for music streaming from my iTunes library. For all the negative press that ATV has gotten since day one, I don't get it. It's always worked well for me, easy to configure. Sometimes it seems to forget the wireless network settings tho.

I think the deal is, it's just ever been a very exciting product. My first reaction when the new one was announced was that i just paid for an outdated device. But after thinking about it, I actually like it better. I like the storage. I understand the concept of centralized storage and processing vs. the distributed model, but so what?

I am a little miffed that they won't be updating the OS - why is this? From what I understand, the new one won't be running iOS, so what's the difference? But I would like to have NetFlix built in so I don't have to put the disk into the PS3.

I also don't care about TV rentals. They're a long way from actually competing with cable TV in offerings and price. Of course, this is different for everyone depending on what you watch and how much TV you watch. But try a little exercise, maybe during November sweeps month. Just write down everything you watch during the month - and maybe only track the shows that you could possibly rent (pretend everything was available, even premium channel series'. Add up the cost of the rentals for the season vs your cable bill for those months. Cable will still be cheaper. So the only point then to rentals is to maybe catch an episode that you missed, that isn't on onDemand, or maybe you want the better quality that ATV will most likely provide.

So - what exactly IS the issue with the old ATV and 720P video? Is it not supported at all, or it just doesn't have the power to render it well?

Steve is also trying to kill BluRay. I totally get all the licensing hassles that go with it, but no streaming service is going to provide the quality of the disc - especially the audio track. The bandwidth just isn't there. The only way to match it is to bring back local storage and download basically the BR disc image.

 

[matrix07]

This November, my whole immediate family and their families are meeting up for Thanksgiving and I'll be able to take my little ATV with me and show it all directly from my iPhone on my parent's HDTV using Airplay. Plus we can watch moments that I capture while we're there the same way. That is awesome!

You should buy another ATV for your parent. That way you don't need to carry anything and they could enjoy all those $.99 rentals.
Also, don't forget Bump. The great little app for sharing photo (& contact) between iOS devices. You could just bump your son pics to any iOS devices your relatives have.

 

[matrix07]

I got the ATV about 8 months ago, and basically only use it for music streaming from my iTunes library.

For streaming music the new one is even better. There's no moving parts from storage so less jitter (better audio quality).

 

[jaykk]

People are spending way too much money for iPad accessories (Cases, docks etc), consider it as an expensive $99 dock/case, done with it. it will be perfect add on device for your iPhone/iPad, even if you are never buying any $0.99 episodes.

 

[Slip Jigs]

For streaming music the new one is even better. There's no moving parts from storage so less jitter (better audio quality).

True, but I have a decent but mid grade sound system, si I probably wouldn't notice. I would actually rather store it onnthe drive, but it's not synching any more. Was this taken out of iTunes 10 or something?